Drill Press advice appreciated

[dfkrug]

Hey, SHERWELD, I built one of those home-built backhoes and I drilled
big holes with bi-metal holes saws, too. Boy did my Delta drill press hate
it! Lowest speed was 250...too fast! Your older DP may have had a lower
speed and better construction. As DANNO1 says, older is often better.
My large HF DP handles large holes much better.

For all the bosses I welded on my CADDigger, I used a 1.000 hand reamer
that had 8" flutes to do final alignment of holes. I learned a lot about
heat management as those 1/2" steel plates warped when welded.

 

[Legdoc]

Eddie, Consider a machine with a Morse taper quill. This would accept a carbide spade drill. This will speed up your project considerably. I have a Bridgeport series I and even with this level of a machine that many holes is a PITA! You may also want to consider a cool mist unit that way you could "speed" the process up.
Legdoc

 

[dfkrug]

This would accept a carbide spade drill.

LEG, what is a carbide spade drill? Pix?

I use several large MT3 twist drills with my big HF drill press. I have found
them quite reasonably priced on Ebay new, American-made hi quality. WAY
better than those crappy Silver & Deming bits you see everywhere.

 

[EddieWalker]

As luck would have it, I got a Harbor Freight paper in the mail today with what looks like the same drill press in it for sale. It says the regular price is $419.99 and the sale price is $389.99

It's model number, or they have it as LOT NO 39955 and is called a "12 SPEED FLOOR PRODUCTION DRILL PRESS"

Same name as on the website, but the item number on the website is 39955-7VGA and the price is $469.99

I went to Harbor Freight in Longview today and was really impressed with this drill press. It's twice the machine as anything else I've looked at. Just massive in comparison. There is no light on it, but that's easy enough to add at a later date. The pully's are easy to get to, the deck is huge, as is the base. The only real negative that I saw was that gear handle to raise and lower the deck seemed like it won't last. I can live with that.

For the money, this seems like the best drill press out there by a huge margin.

I'm spending money like crazy on other stuff right now, but I'm hoping that's about to end and I'll have some cash available before the sale ends.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[6sunset6]

No one mentioned this I think. When using hole saws drill a small hole tangent to the inside of the hole saw kerf. It clears the chips so you can drill the full depth of the hole saw. If you don't do that the hole saw rides up on the chips and it is all but impossible to go much deeper than the gullet of the teeth.

 

[dfkrug]

I went to Harbor Freight in Longview today and was really impressed with this drill press. It's twice the machine as anything else I've looked at. Just massive in comparison. There is no light on it, but that's easy enough to add at a later date. The pully's are easy to get to, the deck is huge, as is the base. The only real negative that I saw was that gear handle to raise and lower the deck seemed like it won't last. I can live with that.

For the money, this seems like the best drill press out there by a huge margin.

It is certainly a hefty DP. Don't assume the floor model is exactly like the
one in the box. The floor sample I saw had a one piece, 3 handle, cast
spindle control, which I liked. The one I got had rods with screw-on balls.
Both had built-in lights with a switch on the front. It seems there were some
changes in the venerable 39955. I have found the table height control to
be superior to my old 17" floor Delta.

 

[mjncad]

No one mentioned this I think. When using hole saws drill a small hole tangent to the inside of the hole saw kerf. It clears the chips so you can drill the full depth of the hole saw. If you don't do that the hole saw rides up on the chips and it is all but impossible to go much deeper than the gullet of the teeth.

I just lift up the quill and blow the chips out with compressed air, and give a squirt of oil before proceeding.

 

[sperry]

Hi Eddie,
I think that used drill presses are really a good deal. There are so many machine shops closing every day. If you spend time looking at used you will find one with spray mist, light, threaded depth stop, bench with cast iron base or floor model, single or multi head for the kind of money your talking. Call local machine and welding shops and feel out your area. The nice thing buying from shops are the tooling you might be offered with the press. (Vise, clamp down kit, tapping head, ect) The biggest savings can be had by buying a three phase unit. You can make your own phase convertor, this is cheap and easy also.
Good luck with the press!
Sperry

 

[ampsucker]

just picked up this floor model used off of craigslist. paid 150 for it. 14" swing, 3/4 hp capacitor start motor, integrated light, 5/8" chuck, 4" quill travel, 16 speeds. they threw in the clamp for the price which is a heavy duty older clamp. the press is a 1988 guardian power company machine. i was unable to find a current reference on google and was a bit worried about getting parts for it, but it looks almost exactly like the same machine grizzly is selling for around $250 without the clamp.

amp

 

[Willl]

No one mentioned this I think. When using hole saws drill a small hole tangent to the inside of the hole saw kerf. It clears the chips so you can drill the full depth of the hole saw. If you don't do that the hole saw rides up on the chips and it is all but impossible to go much deeper than the gullet of the teeth.

Never had that problem myself. The cutting oil seems to help 'float' the chips out.